New stadium in a different league

NEW Anfield is the result of a four-year expansion programme by Liverpool Football Club which saw the club scouring Merseyside for a new home and examining ways to increase capacity at their current ground.

NEW Anfield is the result of a four-year expansion programme by Liverpool Football Club which saw the club scouring Merseyside for a new home and examining ways to increase capacity at their current ground.

But Anfield, which the club has called home for more than 100 years, was eventually considered unsuitable.

After looking at around 18 sites, the club was left with a plot of land on the eastern side of Stanley Park or a site at Speke Boulevard.

But the Speke Garston Development Company decided the club did not fit in with their regeneration plans and attention turned to Stanley Park.

Last month two planning applications were submitted - a detailed scheme for the new stadium and outline plans for the neighbouring area, including the old stadium site.

The New Anfield scheme is a 60,000-seater stadium with conference, banqueting and hospitality suites, a media centre, museum and club offices.

There will also be a new sports centre to replace Vernon Sangster and a base for Liverpool Hope University College.

The club aims to provide park and ride facilities for fans. Six sites around Liverpool, including on the A59 through Aintree and the East Lancs Road, will provide parking, and there will also be parking for around 1,500 cars at the new ground.

Away supporters' buses will remain along Priory Road.

Around the stadium, Stanley Park and Anfield Cemetery will be extensively remodelled.

The south of the new stadium will be the main entrance, fronted by a public space called Anfield Square.

The old stadium, to be called Anfield Plaza, will include a small public park, two community buildings, a hotel, shops, restaurants and residential developments.